[EXCLUSIVE] "There is still a tremendous love for the game of cricket in the West Indies": Fazeer Mohammed

[MenInG]

In an exclusive interview for PakPassion, acclaimed Trinidadian cricket commentator and journalist, Fazeer Mohammed chats with Saj Sadiq about:

- If cricket is a dying sport in the West Indies.
- Why has cricket in the West Indies suffered?
- The politics and mismanagement in Cricket West Indies.
- The failure of leadership in Cricket West Indies.
- Why emerging talent in the West Indies is more attracted to playing. franchise cricket rather than for the West Indies.
- How people from the Caribbean felt about not qualifying for the World Cup.
- Are the ICC requirements for cricket grounds unreasonable?

 

[Markhor]

Nice to hear from Faz. Forthright as ever.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Players like Jason Holder and Nicholas Pooran have refused central contracts. On the other side, David Willey took retirement for not getting a central contract. Cricket has now divided into two spaces: one with players desperate to represent their country and others who are getting central contracts but are not interested in representing their country.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Players like Jason Holder and Nicholas Pooran have refused central contracts. On the other side, David Willey took retirement for not getting a central contract. Cricket has now divided into two spaces: one with players desperate to represent their country and others who are getting central contracts but are not interested in representing their country.

The difference in the respective central contract could also be another reason. ECB's contracts would definitely pay more than WICB's.

 

[Saj]

It's heartbreaking to see where West Indies cricket stands at the moment.

When I was growing up, they were the kings of cricket, the players so many of us admired.

But it shows that if you take your success for granted, don't look ahead, then you will fall down that slippery slope.

 

[Bewal Express]

Players like Jason Holder and Nicholas Pooran have refused central contracts. On the other side, David Willey took retirement for not getting a central contract. Cricket has now divided into two spaces: one with players desperate to represent their country and others who are getting central contracts but are not interested in representing their country.

Windies cricketers couldn't care less whether they play for the Windies or not.

 

[Bewal Express]

West Indies test team needs to get rid of Kraig Braithwaite. It needs to pick players that can at least entertain a little. Who in the right mind would have a tailender, batting like tail ender captaining a team like the Windies

 

[Saj]

I don't think the days of the great West Indies teams will come again soon.

They might challenge in T20 cricket but that's about it.

As for the other formats, I don't see them competing with the best in the world.

 

[MenInG]

Greg Chappell possibly saying something Fazeer has been saying for a long time.....

==


Windies greats Holding and Roberts fear glory days will never be seen again by Greg Chappell


I can still recall the thrill of anticipation upon the arrival of the West Indian side of 1960 led by the revered Frank Worrell. It contained legends such as Garry Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Lance Gibbs and Wes Hall. I was 12 years old and impossibly hooked.

During the 1970s, 80s and 90s, the West Indies were cricket’s electrifying powerhouse, boasting an arsenal of iconic players – Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, Alvin Kallicharran, Richie Richardson, Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge. Their menacing pace attack – featuring at different times Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose – struck fear into opponents worldwide.

Alas, there are no household names in the current West Indian team that are likely to fire the imagination like their great teams of decades gone by.

The 2024 West Indians are a poignant reflection of economic challenges, with domestic cricket suffering, and hydra-headed T20 leagues luring away talent. Their era of cricket dominance, once a source of pride, now echoes as a distant memory in the face of collapsing economies. Fast-food cricket leagues have dealt the killer blow.

I had two tours of the Caribbean in the 70s and one of the most remarkable sights was seeing young, and not so young, cricketers playing in the streets, on the beaches or any available vacant block of land. By the 90s when I toured there as a commentator, there had been a marked decline in the numbers playing in these milieus, and by the time I went back there as a coach in the early part of this century, these games were almost non-existent.

These unstructured settings had thrown up some of the best players who had ever graced the cricket grounds of the world. The loss of such environments did not seem to raise an eyebrow when I believe they were equally responsible for the dominance of the region as their formal structure.
The great Garry Sobers spoke to me a year or so ago with fondness about the street cricket he played as a youngster. He regaled me with tales of games with tennis balls, tar balls and bats fashioned out of pieces of wood.

Garry was animated when he reminisced about “Lilliputian” cricket that was played on one knee with the ball rising around chest height consistently. Pads and gloves were non-existent and … helmets? They were not even used when riding a motorcycle! Without protection, the players learnt to use the bat effectively or get hit.

No wonder there were so many good players of the short ball from that era; not least of all, Sobers himself.

As a lover of Test cricket, I am saddened by the West Indies’ slide into irrelevance in the longest form of the game and to the point that they didn’t make the cut for the recent 50-over World Cup.

So many of the West Indian greats I have mentioned are devastated to see that the game has lost its position in the hearts and minds of the people in the region.

Many of them agree with the aphorism of former American basketball player, coach and administrator Pat Riley that “great players and great teams want to be driven, to be pushed to the edge. They don’t want to be cheated. Ordinary players want it to be easy.”

During the week, I spoke to two of my former adversaries about how the slide came about and what, if anything, can be done about restoring the West Indies to its former position of dominance in world cricket?

Michael Holding was not merely one of the world’s fastest bowlers, but also one of the most distinctive and respected voices in cricket. He believes the slide for the West Indies began when they were defeated in the Caribbean by Australia in 1995.

Mikey says complacency had quietly slipped in during the successful era and that the discipline that had taken the West Indies to the top had been falling away from the mid-90s.

Dennis Waight, the Australian fitness guru, joined the West Indies during World Series Cricket because Kerry Packer demanded all teams be fitter and more professional. He worked with West Indian teams for 23 years from 1977 and had been instrumental in their rise. He quit, disillusioned, after their South African tour in 1999 because the new generation was simply not prepared to work as hard as their eminent predecessors.

Andy Roberts was as quick as anyone I played against and one of the craftiest bowlers of that era. Andy made me work harder for my runs than anyone else.

He agrees the decline had set in long before it was recognised and by the time it was, a lot of damage had been done. Andy also agreed with Mikey that the new generation did not have the commitment to excellence that his colleagues and those who followed on their heels.

He adds that while money was important to his cohort and had been a factor in them joining World Series Cricket, it was not the sole reason. He says the lack of respect shown to the players by administrators was as big a consideration.

IPL money, he says, has become the No.1 influence on why players have turned their back on Test cricket now.

Neither of these past champions blames the players for chasing the cash. The administrators are culpable for not prioritising Test cricket, they say.

Economic conditions in the Caribbean are also a huge factor. Back in their day, local economies were stronger, enabling companies to employ cricketers to represent them in local leagues. The changing business environment has ended that.

Holding points out that it is now much harder for foreign cricketers to play in the English leagues or County cricket, where he and many of his colleagues gained valuable experience.

Roberts is also critical of the West Indies Cricket Board for not having utilised the knowledge of his colleagues in mentoring future generations. It is almost as though the administrators, and or successive coaches, were threatened by those who had learnt what it took to succeed at the highest level.

Both former greats are pessimistic about the chances of the West Indies returning to their glory days. Holding believes that T20 cricket is the death knell of Test cricket and nothing he sees suggests that the wealthier member nations of the ICC will share their booty with the poorer nations.

Holding’s nightmare of players being signed up by clubs/companies who have franchises in multiple T20 tournaments around the world has already fructified. If we are lucky, he says, they will be released from time to time to represent their country at World Cups, much like we see with soccer. He is not sure how much time, if any, will be found for Test cricket.

Roberts made the interesting observation that the best batsmen in T20 are those who have built their skills and reputation in Test cricket. He was also quick to point out that some of them have found that playing T20 on its own has led to a less-than-gradual decline. AB de Villiers is his case in point.

Roberts does not see any change in the future unless the players demand that Test cricket be prioritised. He is not holding his breath for this to happen because he believes that it is now all about money and that none of the current players want to do the hard work required to succeed at the longer format when they can earn a king’s ransom for little more than an evening’s work every few days.

They both believe that talent is not an issue in the Caribbean, but attitudes will have to change if the current slide is to be halted.

Sadly, I share the distressing scenario of my esteemed colleagues. The three of us may well be showing our age, but it is undeniable that, for Test cricket to survive, cricket needs administrators around the world to join forces urgently to rescue the proud but poorer nations. If they don’t, Test cricket is doomed.

Remember there is no proof how long the current fad for the rubbish will survive But, we know that Test cricket has endured, nay thrived, for nearly 150 years.

Mikey, Andy and I fear that without the longer format as a foundation, the shorter formats might not prove the panacea that many claim.

SMH

 

[The Bald Eagle]

WHAT BRIAN LARA WOULD DO TO HELP REVITALISE TEST CRICKET IN THE WEST INDIES​

West Indies cricket legend Brian Lara has revealed how he’d try to revitalise the longest format of the game in the Caribbean.

Once renowned as the most feared team in Test cricket, the West Indies are now the eighth-ranked men’s Test side in the world and are considered huge outsiders in the upcoming two-Test series against Australia this month.

Australia didn’t beat the West Indies in a Test series from 1976 until 1995, but in recent times the West Indies haven’t even pinched a single match off the Aussies since 2003 whether home or away.

That decline has partly had to do with T20 franchise cricket, with a handful of West Indies stars choosing to chase lucrative deals around the world instead of representing their nation in red-ball cricket.

Lara thinks the first thing the West Indies Cricket Board must do to revitalise interest in Test cricket is to teach the next generation the importance of representing their part of the world on the global stage.

“I mean, we’ve got to face the facts,” Lara told SEN Sportsday.

“The franchise cricket that is being played around the world, it is very difficult for the West Cricket Board to compete with such lucrative opportunities that our cricketers have.

“I think we've got to, first of all, try to hold on to the young ones, the teenagers.

“We need to get them to understand what West Indies cricket means and how we can protect it.

“That's what Australia has done. Australia don't just pay their cricketers more or England pays their cricketers more … they develop that sort of loyalty to the sport in their country and that's what we have not done.

“For an 18-or-19-year-old to say, ‘I'm heading to the IPL’, or, ‘I don't care about West Indies cricket’.

“It's not just his fault. I just think that we have not sold what West Indies cricket means to us as Caribbean people and why you should be playing for the West Indies.

“That's the first thing we need to do.”

Given that the current crop of players appear already set on their mindset, Lara thinks that push must be made in underage cricket and at schools as they look to sell prioritising the West Indies over T20 riches.

“But it's impossible to do it with a present crop,” Lara said.

“I think we've got to go and get that into the schools and into the age group cricket before we bring them out on the international stage.

“40 or 50 years ago, you may have been driven or motivated by playing for your country.

“But the sport today is about playing and making a living, so we have to make sure that that is part of the whole deal that we are selling.”

As the West Indies appear huge outsiders to compete with Australia in Adelaide and Brisbane, Lara is simply hoping to see the inexperienced side show some fight as they did in 2022 in Perth when they pushed the home side to Day 5.

“No (I’m not sure what they will offer), but I know what I want, I want to see some fight,” Lara said.

“I want to see the talent come to. There's a lot of talent. There's always been a lot of talent, but this is a big stage.

“This is not Mickey Mouse, this is the real deal and Australia are not going to give any quotas.

“They (Australia) have already won three Test matches for the summer and they'll be looking to make it five in total.

“So, I would like to see some fight and I remember being very proud of the team in Perth 13 months ago when we lost on the fifth day of the Test match.

“I felt that was a good performance against such a strong Australian team.”

The first Test between Australia and the West Indies begins on Wednesday in Adelaide.

Source : SEN

 

[MenInG]

This is the type of picture the West Indies fan would love to see again and again

 

[cricketjoshila]

There's no team that can match the flair of the West Indies.

Would love them to become a top team again in tests.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Cricket great Viv Richards during a media interaction:

"I'm just hoping that my West Indies team can take a leaf out of these guys' book, because there is a passion and energy that the Afghanis have brought to the game."

"They haven't been in the cricket world for so long as maybe some other teams around the world, but just their fighting spirit. To me, the ability to learn as the years go by, that would have given them the experience that's needed in order for them to be where they're at."